Kyle Hogarth closes in on the South Lyon United's net in the third period. Photo by Wendi Reardon

A goal from senior forward Chase Wiedemann sealed the win for the Clarkston Hockey team against South Lyon Unified last Friday.

Wiedemann's shot at the beginning of the third period gave the Wolves a 4-2 lead to open their annual Thanksgiving tournament.

The boys continued to hold off South Lyon for the remainder of the period to take the win.

"We had some good goals," said Coach Bryan Krygier. "Chase's goal was a good goal."

The boys came out with control of the game with possession and fired shots on the net.

They broke through when the scoreboard hit 11:46 remaining in the first period with a goal from senior forward Garrett Polish on a power play. Wiedemann assisted on the goal.

Just over a minute later senior Kyle Hogarth caught a pass from Roman Reiner. From the right of the net, he handed it off to junior Drake Gentile who sunk it in for the second goal.

"We got two quick goals in the first period," said Krygier. "Then, we allowed them to get back in the game by taking penalties."

South Lyon's Tyler Manasco put them on the board as the Wolves' were one man down during a power play.

LaPorte created more cushion in the score with his goal with ten seconds remaining in the period off an assist from Polish, putting the score, 3-1.

"I don't think we are scoring high quality goals," said Krygier. "They were some good shots but not high quality chances. We should be blowing teams out like Walled Lake. We need to put teams away and put the puck in the net every chance we get."

The Wolves faced more of a challenge in the second period as they found themselves in the penalty box again.

"We didn't get our lower lines out there," Krygier added. "We didn't get to use any of our line. We didn't have consistent line changes. We had different guys out there all the time. We were lucky we had that fourth goal in the third period to give us a buffer."

Senior goalie Nick Surovec had 14 saves in the net.

"Nick played pretty good," Krygier added. "One goal wasn't his fault. He didn't let in any soft goals that was good. He came up with some pretty good saves and a key save near the end. Defensively we need to tighten up. They are getting too many shots."

Going into the second game of the tournament, Krygier said if the Wolves played the same they wouldn't win.

"We need to be on the puck," he explained. "We need to be the first one to the puck. We need to beat the one to the puck if we are not the first to the puck. We have to start being more aggressive. We need to start moving the puck. We need to start being positionally sound in our defensive zone and we need to make a better effort out there."

The Wolves lost to Brighton on the second day of the tournament, 5-2 with a power play goal from Wiedemann and a goal from senior defender Shawn Cotter. LaPorte, Carter Rea, Roman Reiner and Kyle Hogarth assisted in the goals.

Senior goalie Jack Viazanko was in the net for first period and made eight saves. Surovec stepped into the net for the last two periods and had 22 saves during the 24 minutes.

The Wolves play Rochester United on Friday at Onyx Ice Arena, heading with a 3-1-1 record. Onyx is located at 52999 Dequindre Road in Rochester Hills. The game begins at 8:30 p.m. They host Farmington on Saturday at 6 p.m., Detroit Skating Club 888 Denison Court in Bloomfield Hills.